Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus, and Arcobacter skirrowii are Gram-negative pathogenic microorganisms that cause watery diarrhea and septicemia in humans. The aims of this study were to detect the presence of Arcobacter spp. in chicken meat from butcher shops in São Paulo (Brazil) and to verify their virulence genes and genotypic profiles. A total of 300 chicken cuts were analyzed. The results show the presence of Arcobacter spp. in 18.3% of samples, which were identified as A. butzleri (63.6%) and A. cryaerophilus (36.3%). All strains were positive for the virulence genes ciaB and mviN, followed by cj1349 (98%), pldA (94.4%), cadF (72.7%), tlyA (92.7%), hecA (49%), irgA (47.2%), and hecB (34.5%). These strains were subjected to single-enzyme amplified fragment length polymorphism. Nineteen genotypic profiles were obtained for A. butzleri, and 17 for A. cryaerophilus. These results confirm the presence of virulent strains of A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus in the chicken meat in Brazil. The presence of potentially virulent strains of Arcobacter highlights a possible public health risk, particularly with respect to ingestion of undercooked foods and cross-contamination from uncooked foods during food preparation and contaminated utensils.
Keywords: Arcobacter; chicken meat; food safety; zoonoses.